The De-Value of Everything

This is a law site, but many of us see baseball as a metaphor for much of life, so on his historic occasion (or at least the day after), I hope you will indulge my brief reverie.

When contemplating the most hallowed record in all of American team sports, it is interesting to reflect on the fact that Babe Ruth held the lifetime major league home run record for 53 years, and then Hank Aaron held it for 33 years more, but Barry Bonds may enjoy being the record-holder for less than 10 years.  Neither Ruth nor Aaron had a legitimate challenger so close to their home run totals at such a young age as Alex Rodriguez is to Bonds' newly-minted record.

Although Lou Gehrig was only 32 years old when Ruth retired, he was 326 home runs behind Ruth at the time, and was fated to play for only three more seasons before being fatally stricken with ALS.  Both Jimmy Foxx and Mel Ott were in their mid-to-late 20s, but each was more than 400 home runs behind Ruth and thus too far removed to be considered a serious challenger to his record at that time.

Willie Mays was only 53 home runs behind Aaron at the close of the 1973 season, but that was his last season while Aaron played three more years and broke Ruth's record in the Braves' fourth game of the 1974 campaign.  When Aaron became the all-time home run champion in April 1974, Harmon Killebrew and Frank Robinson were at the end of their careers and each was more than 130 home runs behind Aaron.  Willie McCovey was 36 years of age at the time and had barely more than 400 home runs in his career (he would finish a few years later with 521).

By contrast, A-Rod is 32 years old and already has hit 500 home runs.  He will need to amass around 280 more home runs, give or take a few, in the remainder of his career to wrest the home run title from Bonds.  That is no sure thing to hit 40 home runs a year for 7 more years as he is approaching 40 years of age.  In fact, in the history of baseball, only two men have accomplished the feat of hitting 40 or more home runs in a season that ended after their 39th birthday -- Aaron once and Bonds twice.  But neither would I bet against A-Rod, the undisputed heir apparent.

One final note that has been lost for many to the dim mists of history.  Ruth became the all-time home run king in 1921, at the very beginning of his Yankee career as an everyday player, when he hit his 132nd career home run.   The old record was held by Hall of Fame first baseman Roger Connor who played in the last two decades of the 19th Century for the National League team in New York, the Gothams.  By virtue of Connor's great stature surpassing 6 foot 3 inches and 200 pounds, the New York Gothams became forever more known as the Giants.  Connor, who is now credited by modern baseball researchers with 138 career home runs, held the lifetime home run record for more than 25 years.

Comments

[Jeffrey Nye]

Do you really consider the all-time home run record "the most hallowed record in all of sports"? I personally don't consider it the most hallowed baseball record, let alone the most hallowed overall. The overall title has to go to Joe D's 56 games, hands down. Other baseball records which are at least in the running with 756 home runs are 5714 strikeouts (Nolan Ryan, of course), 1406 stolen bases (Rickey Henderson), 4256 hits (Pete Rose), and 2632 consecutive games (Cal Ripken, Jr.). You can make an argument for Cy Young's 511 wins and 749 complete games (and yes, I had to look that last one up). Rickey's stolen base record is unique among the other records in that nobody else is even close -- if he had stolen one more base, he would have had exactly 50% more than the number two guy on the list (Lou Brock, 938).

Other sports have a number of records which are at least on par with 756. The 1972 Dolphins' perfect season (17-0), the Chicago Bulls' 72-win season (1995 or 96, I think), Lance Armstrong's seven consecutive Tour de France titles, Peyton Manning's 49 touchdown passes, Emmitt Smith's 18,355 rushing yards, Jerry Rice's 22,895 receiving yards . . . . And we should at least mention that a Japanese player (Sadaharu Oh) has (I think) 858 career homers overseas.

In any case, my bet is that Rodriguez will break the record. In the last ten seasons he's only hit less than 40 twice. If he averages that number for the next five years, he can coast through half a dozen seasons as a DH, banging out 25 per for awhile. If he stays healthy he could put 800 pretty far behind him.

OK, enough baseball. I do enjoy the blog. I hope to get into a Sixth Circuit practice at some point. Starting small for now. Just finished law school and clerking in Common Pleas.

[Eric Zagrans]

Hey, Jeff. Thanks for the comments and the kind words. I do indeed consider the home run record to be pre-eminent and "hallowed" among American sports records because of (i) the drama and excitement of the home run as well as its appeal in baseball legend and lore, (ii) the role and mythic status of baseball in American culture and society, and (iii) the fact that baseball is more focused (indeed, fixated) on statistical achievements and records than any other sport. The number has meaning -- even casual fans over the decades know what 714 or 755 means. Who among us can say off the tops of our heads how many career strikeouts Nolan Ryan had or how many bases Rickey Henderson stole? To be fair, the numbers 56 and 2632 (and before that, 2130) have definite meaning to most ardent baseball fans, and I think those two records come closest to challenging the home run mark for ascendancy as the "most hallowed" of records. Indeed, they may both prove to be harder to break than the home run record. But that's not the criterion I was using. I hope you keep reading and commenting.